What Would You Pay Scalper? State Game - Covid

[FANOSPORTS]

Plenty of seats available up there nowadays, even with this crazy year and % of people that they may allow in, especially since all games have been in Canton recently. If they still alternated between Canton & Massillon it might be a problem. Attendance is nowhere near what it was years ago when there were less divisions and no TV coverage. I attended all the football & basketball State tourneys for 25 straight years up thru 2012 and haven't been to either one since then. Never had to buy a good scalped ticket for football at OSU, Canton or Massillon at all. Basketball at St. John's was a different story at times but after the Schott opened up in 98' other than the LeBron years, It was easy to get good seats for face value.

I don’t believe games will be in Canton or OSU, more likely regional HS facilities.

That would be a good thing if they do it this year AND from here on out after this year with all the money problems with OHSAA and attendance dwindling over the years at the championships anyway. Heck the first 12 years (72-84 or so) they held the championships at different sites for each division. Akron, Groveport, Upper Arlington, Ohio Wesleyan and even Whetstone high school just to name a few...... BUT ...... I think OHSAA saw $$$$ signs and it worked at the big venues for 25 years or so at OSU and Massillon/Canton but with the advent of the internet, tv, price increases, etc. the casual fans which originally numbered in the thousands , such as me and my friends that would make the pilgrimage to all these events yearly for decades dwindled drastically. I also think when you take high school amatuer sports and try to turn them into NFL/NBA type atmospheres which involve a lot more handshakes, signatures & money, as OHSAA has slowly done over the years in both basketball & football, it's a disservice to the schools, their fans and the casual fans around the state. Just my thoughts.

[thebarlowbandit]

Plenty of seats available up there nowadays, even with this crazy year and % of people that they may allow in, especially since all games have been in Canton recently. If they still alternated between Canton & Massillon it might be a problem. Attendance is nowhere near what it was years ago when there were less divisions and no TV coverage. I attended all the football & basketball State tourneys for 25 straight years up thru 2012 and haven't been to either one since then. Never had to buy a good scalped ticket for football at OSU, Canton or Massillon at all. Basketball at St. John's was a different story at times but after the Schott opened up in 98' other than the LeBron years, It was easy to get good seats for face value.

I don’t believe games will be in Canton or OSU, more likely regional HS facilities.

That would be a good thing if they do it this year AND from here on out after this year with all the money problems with OHSAA and attendance dwindling over the years at the championships anyway. Heck the first 12 years (72-84 or so) they held the championships at different sites for each division. Akron, Groveport, Upper Arlington, Ohio Wesleyan and even Whetstone high school just to name a few...... BUT ...... I think OHSAA saw $$$$ signs and it worked at the big venues for 25 years or so at OSU and Massillon/Canton but with the advent of the internet, tv, price increases, etc. the casual fans which originally numbered in the thousands , such as me and my friends that would make the pilgrimage to all these events yearly for decades dwindled drastically. I also think when you take high school amatuer sports and try to turn them into NFL/NBA type atmospheres which involve a lot more handshakes, signatures & money, as OHSAA has slowly done over the years in both basketball & football, it's a disservice to the schools, their fans and the casual fans around the state. Just my thoughts.

Or maybe having games on same weekend at same site was also easier on staff, the association and casual fans? If it was only about dollars, keeping them totally separate and using HS facilities would be much more profitable because the overhead would be next to nothing. So instead of seeing $$$ the saw value in the experience for kids getting to play in great venues.

[FANOSPORTS]

I don’t believe games will be in Canton or OSU, more likely regional HS facilities.

That would be a good thing if they do it this year AND from here on out after this year with all the money problems with OHSAA and attendance dwindling over the years at the championships anyway. Heck the first 12 years (72-84 or so) they held the championships at different sites for each division. Akron, Groveport, Upper Arlington, Ohio Wesleyan and even Whetstone high school just to name a few...... BUT ...... I think OHSAA saw $$$$ signs and it worked at the big venues for 25 years or so at OSU and Massillon/Canton but with the advent of the internet, tv, price increases, etc. the casual fans which originally numbered in the thousands , such as me and my friends that would make the pilgrimage to all these events yearly for decades dwindled drastically. I also think when you take high school amatuer sports and try to turn them into NFL/NBA type atmospheres which involve a lot more handshakes, signatures & money, as OHSAA has slowly done over the years in both basketball & football, it's a disservice to the schools, their fans and the casual fans around the state. Just my thoughts.

Or maybe having games on same weekend at same site was also easier on staff, the association and casual fans? If it was only about dollars, keeping them totally separate and using HS facilities would be much more profitable because the overhead would be next to nothing. So instead of seeing $$$ the saw value in the experience for kids getting to play in great venues.

I'm not saying it's only about $$$ but paying the bills and overhead are the major parts of survival in life for any individual, family, business or corporation. When you have to lay off staff, cut interns and take 20% pay cuts, that doesn't bode well for the long run. Centralize the football finals to the Columbus area (UA, Dublin, Gahanna, DeSales and a few others are plenty big enough) which would cut overhead immensely. This would also cut 3 and 4 hour travel times in half for 3/4 of the state for parents, school kids, grandparents and casual fans along with savings on gas, eating, lodging, etc. As far as great venues to play in, I don't think any of the kids who played for titles years ago in different venues other than Ohio Stadium or Fawcett feel any different about the experience many years later. Heck, 16-17-18 year old kids would play anywhere if given the chance to play for a State Championship.